It proposed issuing electronic visas within Iran in accordance with a mechanism agreed by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
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“Iran is responsible for blocking the Hajj pilgrimage for their citizens this year.
Iran’s pilgrims have been denied the privilege to attend the hajj this year, and responsibility for this rests with the government of Saudi Arabia”, Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation said in a statement carried by state media on Sunday. “If Iran wants stability in Iraq, it has to stop intervening and withdraw”, he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir speaks during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart following Sergei Lavrov’s meeting with foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Moscow on May 26, 2016.
Iran has withdrawn from this year’s Muslim pilgrimage of hajj.
In 1987, 275 Iranian pilgrims and tens of others from elsewhere were killed by Saudi forces.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is in charge of Hajj security, announced in May that the Interior Ministry is taking steps to make sure a repeat of last year’s disaster does not occur, such as establishing a more sophisticated operations control room to monitor the Mecca.
More than 2,400 pilgrims from more than 30 countries are reported to have died during a stampede during 2015’s haj, according to reports.
Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in January after demonstrators burned its embassy and a consulate in the Iranian capital following the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
Saudi Arabia claims almost 770 people were killed in the incident, but officials at Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say about 4,700 people, including more than 460 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives.
“Given the treatment and rhetoric by Saudi officials in two rounds of talks with the Iranian delegation and the obstacles created, in effect Hajj won’t be possible”, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency cited Culture Minister Ali Jannati as saying on Sunday.
In Islam, it is required that all able-bodied Muslims perform the pilgrimage to Hajj at least once in their lifetime if they have the means to do so.
The Saudi ministry also said it had agreed on transporting pilgrims “equally between the Saudi national carrier and Iranian national carrier”.
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Ohadi noted that among major reasons behind the cancellation of this year’s Hajj by Iran was Saudi’s ban on raising the Islamic Republic’s flag over buildings housing Iranian pilgrims as well as certain crowded routes aimed at guiding Iranians. Riyadh has blamed Tehran for the impasse.
